Subject:What the hell is Ska?

Written By:Full_House_Fanon02/02/05 at 7:58 pm

...

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:sputnikcorpon02/02/05 at 8:03 pm

taken from allmusic.com....

Ska marked the true beginning of Jamaican popular music, coming to prominence during the early and mid-'60s right around the time the island was granted its independence. Ska ensembles were generally a blend of electric instrumentation and horns most popular in jazz (saxophone, trumpet, trombone).

Although structurally simple, ska has a bevy of influences, synthesizing American R&B, jump blues, Jamaican mento, calypso and other Caribbean styles, big-band swing, Afro-Cuban jazz, pocomania and other local religious folk music, and European ballroom dances. Of those, the first three Ã¢â‚¬â€ R&B, jump blues, and mento Ã¢â‚¬â€ were the most important building blocks. Jump blues tunes Ã¢â‚¬â€ both sax-driven instrumentals and vocal numbers by artists like Wynonie Harris and Louis Jordan Ã¢â‚¬â€ had become wildly popular at Jamaican dance parties, with sound-system operators making frequent trips to the U.S. searching for the hottest and rarest 45s. As R&B shifted into rock & roll, less crossover-oriented American performers like Little Richard and Fats Domino also became Jamaican favorites. In 1959, when the boogie beat had become less important in rock-oriented R&B, top sound-system owners like Clement "Coxsone" Dodd and Duke Reid (as well as restaurateur-cum-producer Leslie Kong) took matters into their own hands, forming their own labels, acting as producers for local talent, and recording the music their audiences wanted to hear when it was no longer readily available in the U.S. From there, the music took on distinctly Jamaican characteristics, melding influences from all the different styles in which Jamaican instrumentalists had been trained. The most important of these was mento, Jamaica's first indigenous musical form; it was essentially a blend of Caribbean calypso and Jamaican folk music. Mento ensembles used the banjo to play chords on the off-beat, and when this practice was transferred to Jamaican R&B recordings, those off beats were punched up and strongly emphasized because of R&B's emphasis on driving rhythm. This was essentially the birth of ska, and that rhythmic emphasis continued to dominate Jamaican music for decades to come. Important ska vocalists included Derrick Morgan, Laurel Aitken, Prince Buster (himself a sound system owner), Desmond Dekker, Toots & the Maytals, and the very young Bob Marley and the Wailers; the Skatalites, featuring a number of virtuosic soloists and led by the mercurial trombonist Don Drummond, were far and away the top instrumental group, and also served as the house backing band for Coxsone Dodd's prolific Studio One. Ska's popularity declined in 1966, when the slower, cooler rock steady style found favor with younger listeners during the particularly hot summer; moreover, ska lost one of its top performers that year when Don Drummond was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend and committed to an institution (he died there several years later). Ska enjoyed a brief and popular revival in the U.K. during the late '70s and early '80s, thanks to the enthusiasm of many British punk fans for reggae records, and the skipping, infectious ska beat in particular. A more rock-oriented take on ska became popular in the U.S. during the '90s, although it was much farther removed from the music's Jamaican origins than the British version had been.

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:Full_House_Fanon02/02/05 at 8:05 pm

It's an offshoot of Reggae? Weird!

Aren't Madness considered Ska?

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:sputnikcorpon02/02/05 at 8:05 pm

yes they are.

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:AngeFaitoreon02/02/05 at 9:59 pm

No Doubt is ska and so aren't the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:goodsinon02/03/05 at 6:58 am

The Specials! :D

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:AngeFaitoreon02/03/05 at 7:49 am

The Specials! :D

By The Specials you mean the ska band and not the 7th Best Superhero Team :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/AngeFaitore/Specials.jpg

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:jayteeon02/03/05 at 7:54 am

The Cat Empire!

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:goodsinon02/03/05 at 8:00 am

By The Specials you mean the ska band and not the 7th Best Superhero TeamÃ‚Â :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/AngeFaitore/Specials.jpg

LOL! Could be that lot, but they look a bit odd, for performers. I'll wager their version of "Too much too young" is good, live.... ;D

Just noticed...they'd be better off covering a Gerry Lee Lewis tune- it looks like the chap in the centre has "Great Balls of Fire"!! ;D

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:mrgazpachoon02/03/05 at 8:14 am

I think at ones stage Reel Big Fish were considered ska. They definitely did a ska version of A-Ha's Take On Me which I think was used for the movie BASEketball...

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:Rhiannonon02/03/05 at 12:24 pm

Operation Ivy! 8)

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:McDonaldon02/03/05 at 1:01 pm

The English Beat!!!

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:Full_House_Fanon02/03/05 at 1:06 pm

I think at ones stage Reel Big Fish were considered ska. They definitely did a ska version of A-Ha's Take On Me which I think was used for the movie BASEketball...

Everybody know that I love the song "Take on Me" ... did they play the synths on the ska remake with trumpets?

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:AngeFaitoreon02/03/05 at 1:24 pm

LOL! Could be that lot, but they look a bit odd, for performers. I'll wager their version of "Too much too young" is good, live.... ;D

Just noticed...they'd be better off covering a Gerry Lee Lewis tune- it looks like the chap in the centre has "Great Balls of Fire"!! ;D

The Specials is a quirky little independent comedy about loser superheroes from 1999 starring (of all people) Thomas Haden Church as the dude in the center, The Great Strobe.

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:danootaandmeon02/03/05 at 4:53 pm

It's an offshoot of Reggae? Weird!

Aren't Madness considered Ska?

Other way around. First ska, then reggae, all these ska bands today are reviving what was.

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:jiminyon02/03/05 at 4:57 pm

Sublime was good

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:Full_House_Fanon02/03/05 at 5:01 pm

Sublime was good

Are they ska? Are they finished?

I Like Madness' "Our House" 8) :D

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:jiminyon02/03/05 at 5:05 pm

Are they ska?Ã‚Â Are they finished?

I Like Madness' "Our House"Ã‚Â 8)Ã‚Â :Di read they were Ska Gwen Stefani sang on one of their songs, the singer died from a heroin overdose

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:Paulon02/03/05 at 5:12 pm

Other way around.Ã‚Â First ska, then reggae, all these ska bands today are reviving what was.

'Rocksteady' kind of fits in between (circa 1968-69)...then of course, you have 'versions' (dub instrumentals) fitting in alongside as well...very confusing...

As explained in the lengthy post above, ska was typified by the driving off-beat, and one of the best examples of this was the Skatalites take of 'Guns Of Navarone' (the theme from the film) - quite fantastic...

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:mrgazpachoon02/03/05 at 6:08 pm

Everybody know that I love the song "Take on Me" ... did play the synths on the ska remake with trumpets?

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

"Ska" (or is that scar?) is this thing on my leg that itches like hell. ;D

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:Stompgalon02/04/05 at 6:26 am

No Doubt is ska and so aren't the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

I heard that Gwen Stefani was influenced by punk and ska music. Apparently, she still listens to those types of music.

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:danootaandmeon02/04/05 at 8:05 am

*Stupid Post*

"Ska" (or is that scar?) is this thing on my leg that itches like hell. ;D

I have a ska like that! I got it getting out of the cah after I pahked it. ;D

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:AngeFaitoreon02/04/05 at 8:37 am

I heard that Gwen Stefani was influenced by punk and ska music. Apparently, she still listens to those types of music.

At least they were ska when they first started. Their last album sounded like pop/rock. The same goes for Green Day. In the 90s they were that alternative punk thing, now they're pop/rock.

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:Bobbyon02/04/05 at 7:23 pm

Ska is great. :D

Examples include the excellent Madness, Prince Buster, The Selecter, Bad Manners and King Hammond.

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:blake36on02/04/05 at 7:50 pm

Goldfinger is ska

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:shiprunner12on02/04/05 at 8:04 pm

The W's and BOB are other ska bands.

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:Full_House_Fanon02/04/05 at 8:09 pm

The W's and BOB are other ska bands.

Are "Finger Eleven" ska?

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:AngeFaitoreon02/04/05 at 10:47 pm

The W's and BOB are other ska bands.

Are "Finger Eleven" ska?

Uh... no.

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:Rushon02/05/05 at 1:40 am

Aren't Madness considered Ska?

Madness started out as ska, they seemed to lose it later on.

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:RockandRollFanon02/06/05 at 9:14 am

Are the Impossibles considered ska ???

Subject:Re: What the hell is Ska?

Written By:Melissaon02/18/05 at 8:00 pm

god do I know a heck of a lot about ska, its the most amazing music ever...

there are different types of ska, the bigger types are pretty much reggae, two-tone, and punk-ska

reggae was the earliest form, mostly from jamaicatwo-tone was around the 80's and popular in the UKpunk-ska started in the 90's and is still pretty popular today, and punk-ska is everywhere but I'm pretty sure it started here

theres all sorts of branches of types of ska off of those types...this website is pretty helpful if you want to learn more: www.skasummit.com

madness would be considered two-tone ska, and the OLD no doubt stuff is ska but not the new stuff

some punk-ska bands (just to give you an idea) would be: mighty mighty bosstones, reel big fish, less than jake, catch 22, mustard plug...I could go on forever